


Two Dumb Fish on a Boardwalk

by AmbitiousSkychild



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith is asexual, M/M, because the asexual experience is not knowing you're ace until you find out on tumblr, but that's not mentioned here, keith learns to express his feelings, lance loves Keith very much, they have a fun date on the pier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 19:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14858933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbitiousSkychild/pseuds/AmbitiousSkychild
Summary: “Alright, now we’re drunk, and full of pasta,” Lance started, holding the door open for Keith to step outside. Keith reached back for his hand. Lance grinned. “Which totally wasn’t part of my plan at all,” Lance continued, eyes alight. “But, looks like neither of us should drive, so I guess we gotta go to the pier.”Biting his lip against a grin, Keith glanced over Lance shoulder to the boardwalk down the way, bathed in moonlight and extended over the ocean like a movie setting. Like a Lance McClain wet dream. Surrendering Keith grinned. “The pier? With the Ferris Wheel, and cotton candy, and carnival games? Oh no.”Or: Join Keith and Lance for a night of fish-related allegory on the road to Keith's self-discovery concerning his feelings towards his very patient boyfriend





	Two Dumb Fish on a Boardwalk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KaiserinAstraia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserinAstraia/gifts).



> KAISERINASTRAIA DARED ME TO WRITE THIS AND I AIN'T NO BITCH  
> This is for my bestie [KaiserinAstria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserinAstraia/works)
> 
> A challenge for myself to see if I could write something under 4k in under a day and here it is

It was brought to Keith’s attention – pretty damn abruptly, if he was going to be honest about it – that perhaps he wasn’t quite as enigmatic as he thought, which on any other occasion, Keith would have taken as a compliment, but it turned out that in this case, it came to mean that he was actually sadly transparent.

To which Keith told Pidge to shut her damn mouth.

And she had grinned, continuing to explain that despite all his efforts to hide it, he was so obviously _virginal_ that there was really no use in it. Hiding it, that was, since there was absolutely no way Lance didn’t know that after all this time.

Keith knew that. Deep down, he did – they’d been dating for two months now _today_ , there was no way Lance _didn’t_ know. Keith had thought they were fine, but maybe if it was this obvious to people outside their relationship….

“Hey, I’m just fucking with you,” Pidge had said, laughter dying down after a glance at Keith’s face, stupid glass window that it was. “You’re just being yourself and he likes you _so_ much, it’s gross, so don’t worry,” she shrugged, grin turned encouraging. “Stop looking so constipated.”

“Babe?”

Keith grunted, blinking up from the menu he hadn’t read a word of to see Lance across the table, watching him expectantly, eyes darting over to the waitress who was patiently awaiting their order, then back again.

“I can come back in a little bit, give you some more time,” the waitress said, smiling sweetly as Keith tried to pick something quick.

“Thanks,” Lance said, smiling as she shuffled away. He turned back to Keith, smile gone a bit concerned. “You alright, babe?”

“Yeah,” Keith answered quickly, eyes down on his menu, trying to force the words to stick in his brain. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Pidge, he was supposed to be thinking about how Lance had spent the past two months to the day putting up with him and how… obviously virginal he was.

 _Fuck_.

“Keith?” Lance pressed. “Are you sure you’re okay? Because you’re making that face you make when–”

“Lance, you–” Keith blurted, before he could think it through, before he could talk himself down from ruining this all. “You like me, right?” He managed, consequently bringing his menu up to hide his face.

He heard Lance chortle, saw his fingers close over the top of his menu and tug it down until he was met with his handsome grinning boyfriend leaned halfway over the table between them. “You could say that,” he teased. “A little,” he said, and Keith became acutely aware that Lance would be dropping at least eighty bucks at this fancy-ass restaurant on his chicken shit boyfriend who hadn’t even _kissed_ him yet– “Why do you ask?” His smile lessened in confidence as he continued, “Am I not clear enough about that?”

“No, you’re – perfect,” Keith stammered, “I just – really like you, too. That’s all. Sorry for being. Weird,” he huffed, eyes back down on his menu, pretending he couldn’t feel Lance’s blue eyes on him, questioning and unconvinced, and he could feel it in the air that Lance wasn’t done talking about this, but their waitress returned.

Keith felt even worse when Lance ordered them wine, appetizers, _and_ two different deserts like Keith warranted all that. What had Keith ever gotten Lance other than blue balls and disappointment? _Jesus_.

For the thousandth time, Keith knew his boyfriend was the greatest catch when their waitress left to put their order in and he didn’t force Keith to explain himself, instead going off about the thesis he had to do for Professor Coran and how it was slowly killing him. “Not to worry, though,” he assured Keith, smile going cocky, “I’ve made arrangements for you after I’m gone, Hunk will see to it that you mourn my death properly and he’ll cook you healthy meals.”

Keith couldn’t contain his laugh, allowing himself a brief break from the brutal waves of anxiety trying to drown him.

“Alright, now we’re drunk, and full of pasta,” Lance started, holding the door open for Keith to step outside. Keith reached back for his hand. Lance grinned. “Which totally wasn’t part of my plan at all,” Lance continued, eyes alight. “But, looks like neither of us should drive, so I guess we gotta go to the pier.”

Biting his lip against a grin, Keith glanced over Lance shoulder to the boardwalk down the way, bathed in moonlight and extended over the ocean like a movie setting. Like a Lance McClain wet dream. Surrendering Keith grinned. “The pier? With the Ferris Wheel, and cotton candy, and carnival games? Oh _no_.”

Lance grinned right back, pulling Keith by hand. “That’s the attitude.”

The pier, Keith couldn’t help but note, was where Shiro took Allura on their first date. They’d kissed at the top of the Ferris Wheel; Shiro had gushed about it for days. He remembered hearing the girls talk about it back in high school, remembered coming here with Pidge instead of going to prom in senior year – hell Lance had probably had a hundred dates here.

Had probably had a hundred passionate kisses – a hundred steamy nights with people who knew what the fuck they were doing. Who had experience. Who made way more sense with Lance than he did.

Lance squeezed his hand, alerting Keith to watch his step as the sand turned to wooden planks. “So, what’s first, babe? I was thinking the rollercoaster, then the aquarium and we can get some merch and take some pics. We should get cotton candy and do the merry-go-round and top it off with the Ferris Wheel?” he asked, grin turned crooked as his brows waggled.

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“It’s our two-month,” Lance shrugged back. “We’re pretty much gonna last forever after this milestone,” he teased, “gotta go all out.”

His smile was starting to hurt, but in the best way.

It hurt through the rollercoaster with Lance throwing his hands into the air and nearly dislocating his shoulders against the wind, screaming his head off and laughing into Keith’s ear. And it grew wider still in the aquarium as Lance went on, excitedly naming each fish and giving them backstories and personality traits.

“This one’s name is Keith,” he said, pointing lazily at a firefish. “He got himself called that just to be obnoxious,” Lance continued. “‘I’m a firefish,’ he said. ‘What’s fire?’ asked the other, more reasonable fish. Then Keith was like: ‘ _Me_!’ Then he made a jump for it out of the tank leaving behind four children, and nearly McFuckin’ died. True story, I watched a documentary on it.”

Keith crossed his arms, stomach beginning to hurt from laughter, lips far past the point of aching from grinning. “That one’s name is Lance,” he laughed out, pointing at a clown fish. “Thinks he has jokes, but according to a documentary _I_ watched called Finding Nemo, he doesn’t. Tragic.”

His smile stretched further as they left the aquarium for the merry-go-round and all he could think about was someday getting a fish tank with Lance. Someday. When he got the guts to act like a normal person in a relationship.

His smile dimmed only to come back tenfold as Lance pulled out his phone, sitting on the horse ahead of him. “Say hi to Snapchat, babe!” he called back. Keith could see the puppy ears filter on them, and nearly spat when he saw the appalled faces of parents from the sidelines. “Stop being evil!” Lance squawked when he noticed, but according to Lance’s even more maniacal laughter, he was no better.

Seeing what appeared to be a pier worker approaching the merry-go-round, Lance sprang into action, pulling Keith off the ride and laughing villainously as he dragged Keith by the hand toward the booths. Keith laughed too, squeezing Lance’s hand in his own and wondering which baby boomer snitch was going to wind up with their cotton candy spilled along the pier.

“Alright,” Lance started, once they were out of harm’s way at a scam booth. He smirked up into his Snapchat video. “We just ran for our _lives_ from all y’all’s Aunt Marges trying to ruin our date and now I’m about to win Keith _that_ –” he pointed behind him at the large Shark hanging from the tent, “stuffed animal with my amazing throwing.” He handed his phone carefully to a laughing Keith with a smile and wink. “Will you do the honors, babe?”

“Why do I like you again?” Keith smirked, taking his phone and continuing to record.

Lance tossed the necessary baseball into his throwing hand and reared back. “’Cause I’m about to win you that _shark_!” He launched the ball full speed ahead into the tower of bottles on the other side of the counter and even Keith couldn’t withhold a shout of appreciation when they all clambered over.

Lance cheered, shooting the fingerguns at Keith and his phone as the carny behind the booth amusingly asked Lance which prize he’d like. Upon Keith’s reassurance that the shark was perfect, he had it in his arms a moment later as Lance stood beside him, beaming at his camera for selfies.

In that moment, Keith realized he was ready. For what, he wasn’t really sure, but. He didn’t want to be weird anymore. He wanted to express himself. Like Lance could – like everyone else could.

“Thanks,” Keith told him honestly, as Lance locked his phone back up, dropped it into his pocket. “My turn now, though.”

“Oh?” Lance smiled, pulling his phone right back out.

The carny gave him three baseballs in exchange for five dollars and, after ascertaining that Lance wanted the giant hippo hanging from the tent and being halted by Lance as he started a new video, Keith made his throw, smiling when all the bottles toppled over.

“That’s my _boyfriend_!” Lance crowed, as the carny happily unhooked the hippo and gave it to Keith. “You should see him throw knives,” Lance told her, like they were old friends. “It’s the hottest thing in the _world_ –”

“ _Lance!”_ Keith exclaimed, mortified that he was _still recording_. Gripping Lance’s hand in his, he sent a sheepish smile to the giggling carny and dragged away a still gushing Lance.

“Ooh, babe!” Lance exclaimed, pulling back against Keith’s tug. “ _Cotton candy!_ You want some?”

Lance bought them the biggest size they had, so that they could share. It was cheesy and terrible, and Keith wouldn’t change a thing about it, unable to stop grinning as he walked down the peer with his prize shark under his arm and bumping shoulders with Lance who held the cotton candy between them and his hippo under the other arm.

The Ferris Wheel sat tall and daunting down at the end of the pier, almost like it knew about the connotation it had in Keith’s mind about his fear of rising to new heights with Lance. He felt entirely new, though, the more excited he grew when Lance started to lead them there. He wasn’t afraid anymore.

Their cart was full when they boarded, two giant stuffed animals taking up residence on the floor and a cotton candy held between them – all the excuse Keith needed to explain his closeness to Lance if he wanted it. But he didn’t need an excuse this time. He needed his boyfriend.

“You alright?” Lance asked lightly, smile gone dopey at Keith leaning fully against him, legs strewn over his own and head leaning against his shoulder. “Not that I’m complaining, like, _at all_. But are you sure you’re my boyfriend, Keith Kogane who hates PDA?” he teased.

Keith lifted his head, chin resting against Lance’s shoulder and Lance was staring right at him, nose almost touching his own. Keith could be normal. He could express himself like a normal 22-year-old and kiss his boyfriend on a Ferris Wheel.

“I don’t hate PDA,” Keith said instead, low and soft, just between the two of them. “I just… don’t _publicly display affection_ with any-old-body,” he informed with a small smile, resting his head back against Lance’s shoulder. He grinned when he felt Lance’s head lean atop his own.

He didn’t regret it. Ferris Wheel as a first kiss was Shiro’s. He wanted something just theirs.

“Good to know I’m not just any-old-body,” Lance said, lips in Keith’s hair making his skin go warm.

“You’re the world to me,” Keith said.

When Lance walked him up to his porch, Keith felt like a tornado – spinning in a circle and obstructing everything in its path. Or maybe that was just his head trying to make sense of all the warm feelings in his chest that told him to hold onto Lance and never let him go–

“So,” Lance cleared his throat, smiling down at Keith, washed alight under Keith and Shiro’s too-bright porchlight. His stuffed shark sat on the ground beside Keith, too heavy for him to hold anymore. “Did you have a good time?”

Keith stood against his front door trying to figure out whether or not Lance could possibly be serious. “I had the best time. You’re the best boyfriend I’ve ever had,” he said, not technically a lie, since he felt like he’d hit the jackpot in a first boyfriend.

“ _Good_ ,” Lance smiled, sighing in relief as the smile turned sheepish. “Because, you kind of scared me. Earlier tonight at the restaurant, when you asked me if I like you. I got worried that maybe I wasn’t being as good to you as I’d hoped, but listen, I’m _in_ this. For the long haul. You’re it for me. You’ve pretty much been it since we met,” he chuckled loosely.

Keith felt like his face was going to _crack_ , which was the last thing he needed on top of feeling like a cyclone and _how_ could he convey that Lance was it for him, too? That Lance had had his heart and every other part of him since the first time they spoke two years ago in class, even if Keith wasn’t expressive, even if he felt his feelings to himself if he felt them at all?

He watched Lance’s eyes jump down to his lips, then quickly back up and made up his mind. “Lance?” he asked, unsure of what else to say as he gripped Lance’s shirt and pulled him down, pressing their lips together in what he hoped was right, but quickly became so obviously _wrong_. His teeth weren’t supposed to be doing… that, and neither was his tongue and it hit him like he wanted to hit himself that this was his first kiss and Lance had had _dozens_ and–

He was the furthest thing from normal, he was a _trainwreck_ and now Lance _knew_ , and he’d–

“Hey,” Lance started gently, when Keith jerked away.

“I’m sorry,” Keith breathed out slowly, unable to meet the eyes he loved and see disappointment or worse – ridicule. “You probably already figured this out, but I’ve never done this before, you’re my first boyfriend – my first _anything_ and I know that’s _pathetic_. I’m twenty-two and I’ve never… done anything and you’ve probably been with people much less of a hassle, but I – I just never… _cared_ about anyone this much before–”

“Hey, slow down there, partner,” Lance smiled, breathing out a soft laugh as he placed warm hands onto Keith’s hunched up shoulders and forcing them down. “Yes, I know you’ve never been with anyone else before, and that I have. And that’s _fine_. There’s nothing wrong with you for knowing what you want and not wasting your time with those you don’t. I’m just glad that it’s _me_ you want. I’ve never cared about anyone this much before, either.”

“Wait,” Keith said, deadpan, because this had to be a joke, there was no way Lance was just fine with this. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Lance nodded, smile growing wider as he slid his hands down to Keith’s waist. “I mean I like sex, and making out,” he started with a smirk, “but I like you more.”

“I’m a knife-throwing champion, why do I care so much that I can’t kiss,” Keith rolled his eyes, arms reaching up to wrap around Lance’s shoulders as he smirked knowingly back down at him.

“Because you care a lot about _me_ ,” Lance teased back. “And besides, I wouldn’t worry about it much,” he said, arms snaking tight around Keith’s waist and pulling him close. “You’re a fast learner.”

Keith shut his eyes, feeling his face burn hotter. “Kiss me or shut up.”

In a pleasant turn of events, Lance did both, pulling Keith in and taking the lead, in molding their mouths together, making Keith melt, first against him, then against the door behind him as Lance kissed and kissed and kissed him into a mindless puddle of warmth and love and things he’d never felt before, but could no longer ever go without again.

Unable to stop himself, Keith risked moving his tongue just so and smiled as Lance hummed.

“What did I say? Fast learner,” Lance grinned against his lips before pressing back and Keith could melt. It felt like the world was yanked out from under him, leaving him pleasantly floating, suspending and swaying–

Until he hit the ground.

Lance landed hard on top of him and, through wincing eyes, Keith saw Shiro standing to the side, hand on the doorknob – solely responsible for ripping the magic kissing carpet right from under him. “Oh,” Shiro said reluctantly, expression a mixture of cruel amusement and genuine apology. “Sorry, guys, I didn’t know you were…. I was just going to get ice cream, didn’t mean to cool down the _heat_ out there,” he winked down at them, like that was _funny_ and–

Keith cringed so hard his head hurt from it. “Go get your ice cream, Shiro,” he groaned out, cringing even harder when Shiro called out a taunting: “ _Be safe!_ ” on his way out the door. “I gotta get out of this place,” he sighed, peeling his eyes open to see Lance still crouched over him.

He paused, sitting back on his knees and looking down on Keith with an expression like reverence as his smile went lopsided. “You could always… move in with me,” he offered, voice carefully casual, lending Keith a hand as he stood. “If you’re serious.”

All the breath got stuck in his lungs as he looked at all the hope Lance couldn’t hide in his eyes and felt himself relaxing. “Obviously,” Keith started, smile curving up as Lance’s did the same, “I can’t stay with Shiro after this. He wants to talk to me about all our dates and this most recent experience has been mortifying enough. I think it’d be fun. Living together.”

“Okay,” Lance said, voice and eyes soft, but Keith was the one melting. “Doesn’t have to be, like, _tomorrow_ ,” Lance reiterated, face a bit red. “No pressure.”

“Right,” Keith cleared his throat.

“Could be… any time you want, just–”

“Yeah,” Keith nodded.

“My door’s always open,” Lance laughed nervously, looking down to see Keith’s hand still clasped in his though he was long past needing help up. “Is the point I’m – getting at here. And… you know, the boyfriend sleepover doesn’t ever have to get naked, if you don’t want, I just wanna kiss and fall asleep together. Cuddle a lot, for sure–”

“Lance, maybe this is–” Keith blurted out, lungs filled with more lava and radioactive butterflies than oxygen as his smile grew and grew. The only thing he could feel was Lance’s hand in his and the cyclone feeling was back. “I love you. A lot,” he said. “Just wanted to let you know.”

The smile Lance sent him, eyes crinkling at the sides and wide teeth on full display was so utterly endearing Keith thought for a moment that Lance might be trying to kill him. He slid his hand from Keith’s up his arm and around his middle, pulling him up against him. “I love you, too, firefish,” he murmured, slotting his lips down onto Keith’s, who kissed uncertainly back until Lance reluctantly pulled away, grinning and looking well-kissed. “I’m gonna regret teaching you that, aren’t I?”

Keith quirked a brow. “Pretty sure no good deed goes unpunished, clownfish.”

“Oh, fuck me, I definitely regret that one,” Lance said, though it didn’t seem like it at all as he kissed Keith again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did, feel free to drop me a comment~~ if you fancy, or come scream at me on [Tumblr!!](https://ambitiousskychild.tumblr.com/)


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